Unitek College Licensed Vocational Nursing Program
For the past 8 years, Unitek College’s LVN Program and LIFE’s Fall Prevention Program have worked together to help frail seniors in the Tri-City area.
This is a remarkable collaboration that provides great experience for both students and seniors.
Here is what one LVN student, Angelica G. Maralit, has to say about it:
“Thank you for the opportunity to learn and the chance to experience being independent during a clinical rotation. The Fall Prevention program not only helps students learn, it is also an indispensable gift to our community. It is evident in the positive progress that I’ve seen take place in the clients as well as the sheer joy and appreciation they convey when they talk about the program and other LIFE services. I am glad to have been a part of it.”
California State University, East Bay
Dr. Loretta Scott King once said, “We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone.” For 12 years, the partnership between Cal State East Bay and LIFE’s Meals On Wheels program has helped improve the lives of frail seniors.
It gives RN students a chance to get real world experience in geriatric care through home visits that include: BP monitoring, med review, and safety checks. The seniors, in turn, help young students appreciate what it is like to age in America.
Recently, the students developed a guide that helps seniors check their own BP and make lifestyle changes that can lower their BP if it’s too high. The guide also includes information on the warning signs of a stroke.
“As the nursing instructor for this program I witness lives being changed – and even saved – every day and I see how the whole community benefits from this mutually enriching experience. I hope it continues forever.”
— Mary Fraga, R.N., M.S.N., Professor, Cal State East Bay.
(Mary’s program, Public and Community Health, Clinical, is a vital component of LIFE ElderCare’s direct services and a public health course offered by Cal State East Bay.)
